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City law enforcement officials say the province’s shift to high visibility licences on vehicles will make it easier to catch scofflaws.

But Calgary’s police service and parking authority believe nabbing those who speed and park without paying would be simpler yet if motorists were also required to have a second plate on the front of their car or truck.

Alberta is the last jurisdiction in North America to abandon painted tags in favour of a plate with a reflective covering that is easier for officers and cameras to read during the daytime and at night.

“There’s lots of infractions that go unpunished now because we can’t make out the numbers or letters because of fading and cracking,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey, who heads the traffic section with the Calgary Police Service.

“These new plates will make life for us and witnesses a little easier and a lot tougher for the bad guys.”

The province dropped the requirement for a front plate in 1991 in a move that the government said then would save about $700,000.

While a 2007 poll found over 60 per cent of Albertans were opposed to re-introducing a second tag, Stacey said the province’s law enforcement community has long supported the idea.

“It would be outstanding to have two plates because it identifies the vehicle so much easier.” Stacey said.

“For example, if we could take radar photos from the front that show the driver that would allow us to prosecute them if it’s a serious offence instead of just fining the registered owner.”

About one per cent of the 30,000 licences that Calgary’s parking authority photographs with its mobile units each day are unreadable.

But CPA general manager Troy McLeod said he expects the high visibility plate will reduce the proportion the number of infractions that are thrown out because the licence of the offending vehicle is not clear.

“We have lights on our patrol cars that allow us to see the painted plates that are currently used,” said McLeod, “but the new plate will make it easier.”

He said a front plate would be helpful in identifying owners who back their car into stalls at lots that are not controlled with gates.

“Right now, we have to dispatch foot patrol officers to photograph those plates manually and log infractions,” McLeod said.

“There would certainly be a reduction in the manpower we required if we had front plates again.”

The anecdotal observations of police and parking authorities in Calgary are backed up by a 2012 study south of the border that found millions of dollars in cost savings and millions more in additional revenue was collected in states that require both front and rear plates.

For example, Colorado officials reported that one-third of the total revenue collected over a 12-month period on a Denver-area tollway — some $23 million — came from the ability to capture information from front licence plates.

Meanwhile in Arizona, a state that only requires a rear plate, up to 15 per cent of parking transactions at a Phoenix airport had to be processed manually at additional cost because sun glare prevented accurate reading of the licence.

“Identification of vehicles is a critical issue for enforcement, tolling, parking and homeland security,” says the study co-authored by Melissa Walden, a research scientist at Texas A&M.

“The presence of two plates maximizes the opportunity for this identification to be completed efficiently and effectively.”

Alberta’s survey of 1,000 adults seven years ago found that roughly 40 per cent of those opposed to re-introducing front plates thought they were unnecessary or were concerned about the additional cost.

Officials with Service Alberta have said the one-time cost of manufacturing the new reflective plates is about $2 each, but the department is hiking the amount it charges owners to register their vehicles by $5 a year when the new licence is introduced.

While 30 jurisdictions in the U.S, require front and rear plates, only four in this country require they be displayed on both ends of a vehicle.

“The single licence plate approach is common in Canada,” Service Alberta spokeswoman Jessica Johnson said in an e-mail reply to Herald questions.

“While I believe law enforcement generally prefers front licence plates, they note in the 2008 consultations that their practices have adapted to single licence plates.”

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